Chapter 15: Who Knew Sauron Had Feelings?
The Fellowship looked up at the high wall in front of them. The gate in the middle of the wall was made of what appeared to be pure silver with a high gothic arch and runes of pseudo-elvish etched around its edges. Its large silver hinges indicated that it swung outwards, but there were no handles on its smooth surface.
Hawk looked at Aura. "Do you know how to get in?"
Aura was studying the door intensely. "It's clearly enchanted, which I expected, but I should be able to bypass its spells. The Queen wouldn't expect a Sue to be trying to break in, so it's probably only guarded against characters and Sue-Slayers like you."
She stepped up to the door. For a moment, her eyes skimmed over the pseudo-elvish carvings then confidently she placed her hand in the center of the door.
The door lit up, the runes glowing. Then it emitted a burst of light so brilliant that Hawk had to throw a hand over her eyes to shield them. There was a bang like a lightning strike, and Aura was flung backwards away from the door. It pulsed ominously with light for a few more seconds then faded back to its usual silver shine.
"Um, Aura, what was that?" Hawk asked as she lowered her hand.
Faramir had helped Aura back up to her feet. For the first time since the Sue had joined the company, she looked unnerved. Her perfect hair was even a tiny bit ruffled. "I…I'm not sure," she said, her voice hesitating. "The runes speak of 'those of Suethor born' entering. It should have let me in."
She approached the door again. This time, she stood back several steps as she began to glow with her Valarin powers. She lifted her arms and the glow intensified. Suddenly, a tendril of her power reached out towards the door as if to envelope it.
The door started to glow again, and the Sue-Slayers and characters took a step back. Aura remained in the front, hands uplifted, her eyes closed, and her face was scrunched into an expression of intense concentration as if some internal battle were taking place. The two streams of light – silver from the door and gold from Aura – strove back and forth until finally both burst, showering silver and gold sparks all over the Fellowship. Aura sank to her knees, breathing hard. The door remained shut.
There was shifting and concerned murmurs from the characters. Hawk helped Aura up this time, taking advantage of her closeness to whisper to the Sue without the characters hearing. "What's going on?"
Aura was shaking as if exhausted. "The gate has been guarded against my powers. I…I don't know if I'm going to be able to get in."
Hawk turned around, putting a hand to her forehead and biting back the sharp response that wanted to come out. She stared at the dark forest behind them for a few seconds, calming her nerves, then turned back to Aura. "This was our only plan for getting in. What do we do now?"
Aura still looked shaken and apologetic. "The only other entrance is the main gate, and if this one is enchanted to block me from entering, I'm sure the main one is too."
"Could we climb over?" Legolas was eyeing the wall. "I'm decently sure I could make it to the top, and I could lower a rope for the rest of you."
"It won't work," Aura said, her expression starting to turn helpless. "I can sense that the enchantment extends all the way up the wall. And it may do worse to you than just throwing you back a few feet."
A silence fell over the Fellowship as they looked around at each other, each hoping someone else would have the perfect plan that no one else had thought of. Hawk could just about have kicked herself. It couldn't end like this, so close to their destination, but foiled before they even set foot inside.
Suddenly, the door started pulsing with silver light again. Everyone turned to it as a beacon of silver sliced up into the air high above them.
"I think we just tripped the alarm," Porter groaned.
Before any of them could react, a Sue appeared on the grass in front of them.
She appeared to be a Falling-to-Middle-earth!Sue, if her modern dress was any indication. She wore a black T-shirt and baggy black sweatpants, and her thick brunette hair was divided into two long braids that fell down her front all the way to her hips. Around her neck was a thin silver chain with what appeared to be a replica of the One Ring hanging from it.
Hawk brought her crossbow up, instantly and instinctively, her finger finding the trigger with the ease of dozens of years exterminating Sues. Before she could fire however, Aura jumped in the way. "No!" she cried. "Please don't shoot her until we know what she wants!"
Hawk opened her mouth, ready with one of her usual sharp retorts. But then she looked into Aura's pleading eyes. The image flashed through her mind of Aura stretching out her hand to her, just a little while ago, as the darkness and mist of the forest reached out to claim her. Her years of training were screaming at her to kill the Sue before she got the advantage, but instead she lowered her crossbow. "All right," she said, nearly choking on the words. "You handle her."
Aura slowly lowered her hands and turned towards the Sue. "Hello," she said, smiling warmly. "My name is Amoriel Aura Gilthoniel. I'm a fellow Sue."
The other Sue frowned. "You're the renegade, the one who wouldn't join the Queen, aren't you?" Her expression exuded wariness, and her voice was low but resonant. "You're not welcome here."
Aura continued to smile. "Yes, I didn't join the Queen, but I'm not your enemy, I promise. It's very important that I get inside Isinguard."
The Sue crossed her arms. "It's my job to guard this gate. I can't just let you in." A flash of brief fear crossed through her blue-grey eyes. "The Queen will be very angry if I do."
"This Queen, do you know where she is?" Hawk asked from just behind Aura.
The Sue's eyes darted to the Sue-Slayer. "Look, I don't know who you are," she said. "I can't give you information, and if you don't leave now, I'm going to have to sound the alarm."
Hawk tensed and her finger crept back to the crossbow trigger. Just as she'd thought, the Sue was clearly going to be useless and possibly dangerous in another few seconds if she brought hordes of her sisters down on them. She felt a flash of something like smug vindication. This interaction was going exactly how she'd thought it would.
But then the Sue's eyes strayed past both Hawk and Aura to the characters grouped behind them. Her eyes went suddenly wide, and Hawk could have sworn she saw her pupils actually dilate. Her mouth opened, emitting a wordless sound somewhere between a gasp and a squeal.
Hawk sighed grimly. She knew that look from a thousand Sue faces before they'd perished at the end of a crossbow quarrel. It was the look of a Sue in the presence of her character of affection.
She lifted her crossbow instinctively up to the firing position, ready to put a quarrel through the Sue's heart the moment that she inevitably lunged. To Hawk's immense surprise however, the Sue didn't attack. Instead she dropped down to one knee in a deep bow, crossing one arm over her chest in reverence. "My lord," she said, her voice trembling with awe and adoration.
Hawk turned to see who she was addressing.
The characters had all drawn back, leaving the Sue kneeling at Sauron's feet.
Hawk's eyebrows shot upwards. There were Sauron!Sues?!
However, as she quickly took stock of the situation, she realized that if they played their cards right, they might have their ticket into Isinguard right in front of them.
Sauron appeared frozen, staring at the Sue kneeling at his feet. He seemed just as shocked by the Sue's existence as Hawk had been.
The Sue remained kneeling, her head bent, trembling (though not with fear, Hawk suspected). Sauron's burning eyes flickered up to Hawk's and he raised an eyebrow as if asking whether he should burn the Sue to a crisp or not. Hawk jerked her head towards the silver door. Understanding flashed through the Dark Lord's eyes. He looked down at the Sue and cleared his throat. "Um, you…you may rise," he declared, though much less imperiously than Hawk knew he was capable.
The Sue hurriedly got to her feet and stared at him with an intensity that almost (but not quite) matched the gaze of the Dark Lord standing across from her.
"How may I serve you, my Lord Sauron?" she asked eagerly.
Sauron gave Hawk a sideways glance, and she made a little "well, go on" motion to him. He looked back at the Sue and drew himself up regally, his black cloak swirling about him. "I require entry into this fortress," he responded.
The Sue hesitated, clearly torn. "My Lord, I'm sorry," she answered apologetically. "I've been tasked with guarding this gate. The Queen was very clear; I was to grant no one entry except her."
Hawk was about to motion to Sauron again to keep pressing, but this time he needed no prompting. A change, almost imperceptible yet potent, came over the Dark Lord. The very air around him seemed to suddenly be radiating charm. He reached out, elegance and seduction pouring off him in waves, and hooked the tip of his gauntleted forefinger under the Sue's chin, forcing her to look up into his face. Her eyes nearly bugged out of their sockets. When he spoke, Sauron's voice was as sweet as poisoned honey.
"And tell me," he crooned, "to whom do you feel the stronger bond of allegiance? This Queen who has no deeds to her name, or me: the Lord of the Rings himself?"
The Sue swallowed. "You are much greater and more awe-inspiring, my Lord, but the Queen will be terribly angry if I disobey."
Sauron lifted her chin a fraction higher. "And you don't think I can protect those who please me? And be assured," His voice was positively silky, "I will be very pleased."
The Sue looked like she might spontaneously combust at any second, and not from the infamous heat of Sauron's hands which Gil-galad had learned just a little too much about. "Well," she stammered, "if…if it pleases you, my Lord."
"Oh, it shall," Sauron purred.
The Sue seemed to snap to a decision. "I will give you passage," she declared. "I wouldn't do this for anyone else, but for you, my Lord, I will aid you in whatever way I can." Purposefully, she strode over to the gate and placed her hand flat on the silver surface the way Aura had initially done. The gate began to glow once again. There was a familiar burst of brilliant Sue magic, but this time instead of throwing anyone back, the gate swung open. As it came to a stop with a silvery clang, Hawk breathed out a sigh of relief that she hadn't even realized she was holding.
The Fellowship quickly filed in under the gate, with Hawk and Sauron being the last two to enter. The Sue stood to the side as they passed, still gazing with awestruck ardor at Sauron.
Sauron paused at the door and turned back to look at the Sue, a slight frown curving his lips. "One question," he said, "just for information. Why are you my Sue? Aren't your kind supposed to like the dashing heroes like all of them?" He waved his hand dismissively at the door through which the rest of his companions had already passed.
The Sue's eyes lit up and she glowed almost as brightly as the door with apparent delight at his question. "I guess I've always just been more drawn to the darkness," she said. "There's so much about you that I love. You're brilliant and strategic, you're a great craftsman and artist, you have an amazing, complicated history." She sighed dreamily. "Even when I first read about you when I was only a child, I always thought there was more to you than what everyone else always seemed to see."
Hawk could only see part of Sauron's face from where she stood, but his stance all of a sudden was unnaturally intense and still. "More to me?" he said, and his voice was strangely quiet.
The Sue continued to gush, apparently oblivious to the change in her lord's demeanor. "Oh yes! Everyone always spouts that nonsense about how you're just 'evil incarnate' or whatever, but I don't think that's true. You were good and beautiful in the beginning, and I believe there's still that core of goodness and beauty inside you. I mean, you could have put your power into anything, but you chose to put it into something remarkably beautiful. Something beautiful that you made. I don't think someone entirely twisted by evil could have done that. Of course, you'll always be majestic and dark, but I don't think you're as completely consumed by evil as everyone always assumes." She beamed at him. "And not everything dark is evil. After all, the night is dark, but it's good and lovely."
"Yes, I suppose it is," Sauron said in that same eerily quiet voice. His fiery eyes were distant, as if fixed upon some faraway time.
"Of course, I realize you've done things that aren't so great, but I always hoped you'd be healed one day. Your love of order and perfection isn't bad in and of itself, but you just got carried away with it. I always wondered what it would be like if you could find your original purpose again and become the wonderful, talented, powerful person you were created to be in the beginning once again. It's what I always hoped would happen after the Ring was destroyed and you were no longer consumed by the cruelty and malice you put into it." The Sue shyly brushed one of her braids over her shoulder. "But I don't believe you'd have to give up any of the things that make you admirable and awesome to do it."
Hawk glanced at the rest of the Fellowship waiting beyond the gate. "Sauron, we have to go," she said urgently.
Sauron looked at her, but his eyes still seemed to be caught in another time. He blinked, and the brief expression vanished. He looked back at the Sue. "You have the gratitude of Mordor," he said elegantly, inclining his head just slightly.
The Sue smiled so hard that Hawk was afraid her face might split in two. Sauron and Hawk were turning to go, when the Sue called out to them again. "My Lord?" They turned back to find her nervously wringing her hands and biting her lip. She glanced back and forth between them. "Before…before you go…" She swallowed. "Could I have a hug?"
Hawk almost let out a bark of laughter. There was something so absurd about the situation that she almost wasn't disturbed by it, despite the whole thing going against everything she'd been trained in. "You know what," she said. "That's up to Sauron." This should be interesting, she mused, half expecting Sauron to finally blast the Sue with a fireball.
For the second time, Sauron seemed visibly taken aback, and Hawk knew how ruffled that must mean he was. He blinked, staring at the Sue, then he heaved the world's most overdramatic sigh and rolled his eyes. "All right, fine."
The Sue squealed and rushed to him, throwing her arms around his middle and planting her face straight into his armored stomach. Sauron stood comically with his arms outstretched, his expression a mixture of something that couldn't settle between surprise, distaste, dark lordly disdain, and some final mystery emotion. Then, slowly, he lowered a hand and gingerly patted the Sue on her back, as if not sure how else to respond.
The Sue released him. "Goodbye!" she said, her face glowing with happiness. "I hope you have success with whatever it is you're doing! And maybe I'll see you again…" She blushed a little.
Sauron seemed to have regained a little of his cool. He gave her a suave smile. "If our quest is successful, I assure you that I will remember it was accomplished with your aid." With that, he turned with a dramatic sweep of his cloak to follow the rest of the Fellowship through the gate.
For a second, Hawk remained, staring pensively at the Sue, her thoughts churning. The Sue looked back at her and met her eyes, and an unnerving sensation swept through Hawk. She had the sudden intense impression that the Sue knew her thoughts, and for a moment, it seemed to her that there was something – or someone – else behind the Sue's eyes looking straight into her soul. But then the gate shut behind them and the Sue was lost to sight.
She turned to find Sauron standing frozen on the far side of the gate. He was staring off into space, the tiniest little smile on his face.
"Sauron?" she said cautiously, not sure what response she would get.
"I haven't had anyone swoon over me like that since the Second Age," he said dreamily. He heaved a deep, wistful sigh. "I used to be so hot."
"Uh," Hawk said, not sure how one responded to such a statement, and also not sure whether to be amused or disturbed at seeing the Dark Lord off in la la land. But then, Sauron had been taking the full brunt of a Sue's power for a good fifteen minutes, so she couldn't really blame him for being a little addled. She pulled out a small bottle of IC juice and shoved it into his hand. "Drink up," she said firmly. "We've got to get moving."
Hawk turned to face the Fellowship.
They were standing in a beautiful garden, filled with flowers and weeping willows, with colorful butterflies fluttering all around them. There was a sound of water bubbling over stones from a nearby stream with a small waterfall landscaped into it, and the air was almost suffocatingly heavy from the floral scents all around them. Beyond the gardens rose the main towers and halls of Isinguard.
The last challenge was before them. The Hearth of Doom awaited. This was it.
"Time to destroy that Pen," Hawk said. She tightened her crossbow strap resolutely. "Come on, everyone." And with that, she led them forward towards the tower.
